


A Matter of Control

by ConsultingJedi221b



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Allen Whump, Beating, Day 1, FebuWhump2021, Gen, Mind Control, The Flash Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29145162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConsultingJedi221b/pseuds/ConsultingJedi221b
Summary: Febuwhump No. 1: Mind ControlWhen the Flash takes on a new meta, he also ends up fighting two unexpected foes, his best friends.
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139189
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	A Matter of Control

**Author's Note:**

> Hello people!! This is my first prompt fill for Febuwhump 2021! 
> 
> Day 1: Mind Control
> 
> I hope you enjoy this! This is my first time writing for The Flash, and I hope I did the characters justice. I know this is pretty late, but here it's still February 1st, sooo...
> 
> Anyways, enjoy, and as always, feedback is appreciated!

Barry Allen, also known as The Flash, jolts awake at the sound of a notification coming through on his phone. He rolls over to check it.

_ What could that possibly be at three in the morning?  _ Barry thought as he reached out to grab the phone from his nightstand. 

He sighed when he saw it was a meta-human alert. 

_ Don’t criminals ever sleep? _

Only a few seconds later, his phone rang, it was Cisco calling to inform him of their situation.

“Okay, so our meta is currently robbing a bank downtown, I sent the address to your phone,” he said, sounding as tired as Barry felt. “From what we know, and looking at the surveillance footage from the bank, it seems like he has the ability to control a person’s physical actions, forcing to do whatever he wants. Fun, right?” he continued, sarcasm evident in his tone.

“Great,” Barry deadpanned. “Do we know how he gains control of his victims?”

“Based on his track record, it seems like he has to make physical contact in order to affect people. But that’s just a hypothesis, we haven’t been able to figure out the full extent of his abilities yet.”

“Don’t let him touch me, got it.”

Barry used his speed to grab his suit and then he was racing towards the bank, lighting sparking behind him. Once he arrived, he immediately took in the situation. He saw the skeleton crew that was working the bank this early in the morning, they were all standing eerily still behind a man who Barry assumed was their meta.

His assumption was proven correct when he spoke. “Ah, the Flash. The fastest man in Central City, and yet, still not fast enough.”

“What are you talking about?” Barry asked, tiredly. All of the evil metas he fought all sounded the same.

“Last year, November 23rd,” the meta continued, his eyes darkening, “my brother was beat to death in an alley, and the Flash wasn’t there to protect him. He died, because you. Weren’t. There.”

Another victim Barry had been unable to save. Guilt started to form in Barry’s mind, but he forced himself to think past it, no matter what reason the man had, he was still a criminal, and Barry couldn’t let him continue to hurt others. He took a step towards the man.

“I’m sorry. I truly am. But I can’t let you continue robbing banks and controlling people,” he gestured with his hands towards the line of people formed behind the meta.

“I figured you would say that.” With that, the controlled line of people started to move towards Barry, seemingly forming a barrier between Barry and the meta. He knew he couldn’t fight these people as he would normal metas, they had no control over what they were doing, they were innocent.

He called through his comms, “Uh, Cisco, what am I supposed to do? Is there a range of how far the meta can use his abilities?”

His answer did not come from his comms as he expected, but rather, from behind him. He turned around quickly to see Cisco, standing, suited up as Vibe, along with Wally, in his Kid Flash suit. He smiled when he saw them.

“I figured you might need some help, and we were in the neighborhood,” Cisco said.

Wally, apparently, disagreed. “Whatever man, I was asleep. Cisco vibed into my room and brought me here.”

At that, Cisco smiled sheepishly. “Well, we’re here now. About that situation,” he said, pointing towards the still advancing people, “I did some calculation and it seems like he loses control at a distance of approximately three-hundred yards.”

Before Barry could respond, the meta spoke up again, “Oh, the rest of the team showed too. I was beginning to doubt you would come.”

Barry ignores him and turns to Cisco, who seems to be mumbling to himself. Then, he snaps and exclaims, “Puppet Master! Got it in one.” 

Wally rolls his eyes, but reluctantly high fives Cisco when he offers.

Barry takes off, transporting one of the bespelled people to three-hundred yards away, hoping that Cisco’s theory works.

It seems to, as the man Barry was transporting promptly stares in shock at himself. Barry feels bad for him, but all he can do is give him a sympathetic look and then speed away to help more people. 

Once he gets back though, the meta is ready for him. The people he is controlling start running towards him now, but luckily he has Wally and Cisco helping him. Wally continues to transport the victims away, and Cisco is keeping an eye on their meta, who oddly enough, is just standing still, watching them work.

Barry pushes down a feeling of unease, and continues to work to transport the people to safety. 

After they finish, Barry, Wally, and Cisco gather in front of the meta,  _ Puppet Master _ .

“It’s just you now. Three against one. Even someone that thinks taking away people’s free will is okay should be able to see it's not looking good for you,” Cisco says, putting his palms out in front of him, the threat obvious.

“Oh you are right about that, it is three against one. Just not the way you’re thinking.”

Before any of them have a chance to respond to him, the meta looks towards Cisco and his eyes flash bright white. Cisco turns, his eyes covered in a clout sheen, and fires a vibe slightly to the right of Barry.

“Cisco, what the hell!” Wally exclaims.

_ What? He has to touch someone to control them. _

_ He didn’t… Oh. _

_ Cisco never said he was sure.  _

_ Eye contact.  _

_ Oh no, Wally. _

“Wally! Don’t look at him!” Barry yells, but he is too late. Wally has already turned, fuming towards the meta. Barry saw the lightning in his eyes, signalling he was about to run, right before he saw the evil meta’s eyes flash white again. 

_ No… _

Wally stilled. Both him and Cisco started to walk towards the meta. Barry immediately races towards them, trying to get them both a safe distance away. Before he could grab Cisco though, Wally intercepted him, sending a punch to his gut, causing him to stop running and clutch his stomach as the wind is knocked out of him.

He looks back towards Wally,  _ not Wally, _ expecting more of a fight, but is surprised to see he has returned to his spot beside the meta.

“Now that you know you are unable to save them, as they don’t  _ want _ to be saved, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. Either you’re going to die, or they’re both going to die. It’s your choice.”

Barry didn’t hesitate, “Kill me,” he took a step forward, bringing his hands up, to show he meant it, “Let them go.”

“Oh,  _ I’m _ not going to kill you, Flash.”

“What?”

“They are,” he responds, grinning darkly. “Oh, and if you run out of the building, they still die.”

Barry barely has time to dodge as Cisco shoots another pulse of energy at him, this time not shooting to miss. As he runs out of the way, Wally charges at him, and he narrowly misses a jab to his side, moving so it glances off his right shoulder.

“Cisco, Wally, I know you’re in there. Please, you have to fight this,” Barry pleads, panting as lack of sleep and the events of the previous day start to catch up to him.

His words have no effect, both of his friends keep coming at him.

His mind is working as fast as his body is moving as he tries to come up with a way to get them all out of there alive. He knows he won’t be able to just grab them and carry them away, as he won’t be able to get anywhere near them. Besides, he could only take one of them anyway, and he can’t risk the meta killing the other. And, he was only fighting to injure, non-lethally. He wasn’t going to kill his friends, no matter that they didn’t share his sentiment, at least at the moment.

His only hope was to knock out Puppet Master, and hopefully that will break whatever control he had on Wally and Cisco.

Barry dodges the continued attacks of his friends, and starts to move towards where the meta is standing, careful to not make eye contact. However, before he can get there, Cisco creates a breach, moving the man out of Barry’s path, and to the other side of the lobby. He falters, long enough for Wally to catch up to him, and deliver another blow to his stomach, causing him to gasp and fall to the ground.

He barely manages to roll out of the way as Wally speeds towards him. Barry forces himself to stand up as Cisco walks over to join Wally. He tries again to reason with them.

“Wally, Cisco, I know you’re in there. Please, fight this. Please.”

He doesn’t look towards the meta, but he hears him snickering. “Oh, they’re trying, believe me. They can see everything, you know. They’re trying so hard, but it’s just not enough.”

Barry ignores him.  _ Come on guys, come ON. _

As he suspected, his pleading didn’t work, and whatever control the meta had over them holds fast. 

Cisco and Wally continue to attack him, and Barry is starting to tire, waking up at three in the morning was unpleasant for everyone apparently, even speedsters. In the enclosed space, it’s hard for him to continue to evade their continuing blows, but he can’t leave them in the hands of that maniac.

They continue like that for a while, Wally or Cisco throwing a punch or Vibe, and him quickly speeding out of the way. After a few minutes, however, Barry hears a voice that stops him in his tracks.

“Barry…”

Barry yanks his head towards the sound, and sees Cisco, eyes clear, staring back at him from across that room.

“Cisco! Breach out, get out of here!” he yells at him. Barry doesn’t know how Cisco managed to break the meta’s control, but in that moment, he doesn’t care.

Cisco looks horrified, but nods.

Just as Cisco throws his arm out to breach, two things happen at the same time. Cisco’s arm falls back to his side as his eyes cloud back over, and Wally uses Barry’s preoccupation to ram into him, sending him flying across the room, where he slams roughly into a reception desk, the corner gashing his leg through his suit. Blood immediately starts oozing out of the wound.

Wally appears over him just as Barry forces himself up to his feet, evading the blow that would have hit his jaw. 

The second Barry takes a step, pain shoots up from his calf, where he was cut. 

_ Great, a lacerated calf muscle. Caitlin’s going to kill me... _

As if he didn’t have enough to worry about all ready. Blood was still flowing out of the gash, and Cisco and Wally were not giving him any time to rest. 

Barry had no choice but to keep putting pressure on his leg as he continued to run to avoid the blows his friends were throwing at him. Judging from the amount of blood spattered across the bank’s floor, and the constant pain coming from his leg, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to hold out much longer.

He once again tries to run towards the meta, attempting to knock him out, but is once again unsuccessful when Cisco simply moves the man with a breach. 

Barry, expecting this, doesn’t falter this time, and is able to avoid Wally, who tries to intercept him.

_ Maybe there isn’t a way to get them all out alive. _

He doesn’t want to think that, but his steps are growing more painful, and he is still slowing down. Maybe the only way out of this is to allow his friends to kill him. 

However, Barry won’t let himself give up yet. Puppet Master hasn’t made any moves to kill his friends yet, so it is safe for Barry to assume that he is getting some sort of sick pleasure out of watching them fight each other. As concerning as that is, it also means that he probably won’t outright kill them, so Barry has more time to figure out a solution.

One well placed hit at his leg though, has Barry gasping and falling to the ground. This time, Wally makes it to him before he has the chance to get up. He grabs his arm, roughly pulling Barry up to a standing position, and wrenching his arms behind him. 

He is dragged over to where Puppet Master, along with Cisco, are standing. Wally kicks him in the back of the legs once he gets there, and Barry ungracefully falls to his knees. Puppet Master stands frighteningly still, just a small smirk on his face and Cisco moves to punch Barry in the stomach. He tries to curl in on himself, but doesn’t get very far due to his arms being held behind him. 

Barry tries to hold back a whimper and keep the pain from showing on his face, trying to keep the pain from showing on his face, for his friends benefit. 

Apparently his lack of a response just serves to make Puppet Master angrier. For the first time, his self-control seems to snap, and he kicks Barry in the leg, almost sending him off of his knees as he gasps, the wound spurting more blood. However, right after, the meta’s control seems to return, as he quickly stills again, his face cold and still once more.

Cisco quickly moves back in front of Barry, and alternates between punching and blasting Barry with vibes. Soon he is hanging limp in Wally’s arms. For a while, he had continued to try and reason with them, but it seemed to only make them hit harder, so he stopped. 

_ After all, the only way to save them is to die. _

Barry tries to communicate to Cisco and Wally through his eyes that he knows it’s not their fault. He can’t have them beating themselves up about it. Right as he is teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, his body giving out from the abuse it has suffered, his head is wrenched upwards by a hand under his chin. When his vision focuses, he sees Puppet Master bent down in front of him, a cold and cruel look in his eyes. 

“Now, Flash, you will die. And then, after you’re dead, I’ll kill these two. Just two more victims the Flash couldn’t save.”

_ He failed. Wally and Cisco were going to die. _

_ It was his fault. _

Barry starts to struggle again at that, but one jab to the abdomen has him once again still, whimpering softly. Suddenly, Wally drops his arms, but before he can fall to the floor, he feels a hand fist in the neck of his suit, keeping him upright. 

When he looks up again, he sees Wally standing before him now, his hand vibrating in front of him, extended towards Barry’s chest. 

Barry closes his eyes as the hand starts to move forwards.

“I forgive you,” he says softly.

His injuries force him to succumb to the darkness before he sees Wally collapse, a tranquilizer dart sticking out of his neck.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!  
> I hope you enjoyed it!  
> I will try to fill as many of the prompts as I can, but I don't know if I will be able to do all of them, but we'll see!  
> Feedback is always appreciated!  
> Have a great day!


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